Salman Rushdie Off Ventilator, Talking. 24-Year-Old Attacker Charged With Attempted Murder, Assault

Salman Rushdie is informed to be off the ventilator and talking while assailant Hadi Matar of Fairview, New Jersey was "remanded without bail to the Chautauqua County Jail".

Author Salman Rushdie was stabbed by Hadi Matar on stage while he was being introduced at a literary event of the Chautauqua Institution in Western New York.

Source : PTI

New Delhi: Author Salman Rushdie is off the ventilator and is talking, the president of Chautauqua Institution, where the Mumbai-born author was stabbed at an event onstage, informed.

"@SalmanRushdie off ventilator and talking! Continued prayers from all @chq," Chautauqua Institution president Michael Hill said in a tweet on Saturday night.

@SalmanRushdie off ventilator and talking! Continued prayers from all @chq

— Michael Hill, Ed.D. (@MichaelHillCHQ) August 14, 2022

Meanwhile, the 24-year-old New Jersey man who stabbed author Salman Rushdie at a literary event in New York state has been charged with attempted murder and assault.

He was remanded without bail to the Chautauqua County Jail, police informed on Saturday, as reported by news agency PTI.

The New York State Police Jamestown, investigating the attack on the Mumbai-born author, stated that on Friday the Bureau of Criminal Investigation arrested Hadi Matar of Fairview, New Jersey for “attempted murder 2nd degree and assault 2nd degree”.

Matar was processed at State Police Jamestown and transported to Chautauqua County Jail.

He was arraigned in centralised arraignment on Saturday and "remanded without bail to the Chautauqua County Jail", the New York State Police informed in a statement, as per PTI.

Meanwhile, Chautauqua County Executive Paul Wendel stated that on behalf of all Chautauqua County residents, he extends his thoughts and prayers to the family and friends of Rushdie.

“The small tranquil community of the Chautauqua Institution has been shaken to its core by an act of violence, which has reverberated across Chautauqua County and Western New York. It is disappointing that we live in a society where we cannot listen to the differences of others, especially in a place like the Institution where thinkers and problem solvers from around the world come to share their stories,” he said in a statement.

Paul Wendel expressed gratitude for all of the emergency and law enforcement agencies who according to him have done a tremendous job in responding to the horrific event: “It is through their quick response that they were able to mitigate the situation and capture the alleged assailant.”

Rushdie, who faced Islamist death threats for years after writing "The Satanic Verses", was stabbed by Matar on stage while he was being introduced at a literary event of the Chautauqua Institution in Western New York. The incident shockwaves across the literary world which condemned it as an attack on freedom of expression.

Previously, the 75-year-old writer's agent, Andrew Wylie, told the New York Times that Rushdie was likely to lose an eye and had suffered damage to his liver after he was stabbed.

More On It: Salman Rushdie On Ventilator, Likely To Lose An Eye, Liver Damaged After Being Stabbed: Report

(With Agency Inputs)